Funding alone will not prevent Brexit brain drain, event hears

Italian researchers in the UK have called on the British government and institutions to change their stance on immigration to retain EU talent after Brexit.

The annual conference of the Association of Italian Scientists in the UK, held at King’s College London on 30 June, discussed the impact that the UK’s vote to leave the EU is having on some of the approximately 5,800 Italian researchers employed by British universities.

Anna Randi, head of vascular science at Imperial College London’s National Heart & Lung Institute, said that the UK’s scientific institutions have done very little to fight British politicians’ anti-migrant positions. Graeme Reid, science policy chair at University College London, said that UK ministers’ speeches since the vote “have been quite aggressive and unpleasant” on immigration.